This invention relates to an escalator or a moving staircase, and more particularly to an escalator which can transport not only standing passengers, but also vehicles such as wheel chairs for physically handicapped persons.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 56-41555 discloses an escalator which can transport a wheel chair or the like. In that invention, deep steps which can accommodate a wheel chair are disposed at intervals along a circulating path between pairs of conventional steps. However, it has the defects that since the radii of the circulating path of the steps for the wheel chair at the lower and upper turn-around portions thereof become large, the depth of the main frame of the moving escalator becomes large, limiting the places in which it can be installed.